Mass Effect: Overlord
by MelasZepheos
Summary: There's no rest for the wicked as the ever-dwindling crew of the Normandy must now investigate a secret Cerberus facility. The next installment in the Maia Shepard series of novelisations.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:-** New year, new story!

**Chapter One: Aite**

It was a changed Normandy.

That was the only thought running through Shepard's head as she double checked the latest reports from Miranda. They had lost some more crew, and hadn't gained any to make up for it. She had known it would happen, objectively, and to say they were gone wasn't exactly accurate, but it was still quite melancholy reading.

Kasumi had left them not long after they passed through Citadel space again. Shepard had thought it was just a quiet shopping trip, and mostly she had been intent on replenishing Chakwas' medicine cabinet with some Serrice Ice brandy. But when she returned the lounge was empty of both thief and possessions, with only a datapad left behind to explain her decision.

'I don't like goodbyes,' the final sentence read. 'And we will meet again.'

Legion too was gone, more recently. That she had expected, though it surprised her how much she missed the strange machine. Once he had been fully repaired he had requested her permission to exit the ship, and she had granted it willingly. Although most of the squad accepted his continued presence, Tali somewhat grudgingly, the rest of the crew had been immensely disturbed the first time the geth stomped through the mess hall. More than one had drawn a firearm, and hadn't that been a fun discussion to have with Gardiner?

She was sat at the mess hall table, the lights dimmed, trying to convince herself she wasn't moping. Only that morning Mordin had left them as well. He hadn't disclosed the exact reasons for his leaving, stating that they contained national secrets he wasn't happy discussing, but she had the feeling it had something to do with his genophage work. After the Collector's mission was finished he had spent most of his time locked in the lab tracing gene sequences, and EDI reported that Maelon's datafile had been opened and accessed repeatedly.

"Late night Commander?"

She grinned. No matter the events, no matter how low she felt, Joker somehow always managed to bring out a smile. "Early morning," she admitted. "Couldn't sleep."

"Well our course is all laid in, so there's not much for me to do but relax." He eased himself into a seat and leaned back. "It would be nice to have some real down time."

"Believe me I hear that Joker. We'll have some leave after this mission's done."

"Must be nice not having to ask the Alliance for permission to take a holiday."

She nodded. "Nice to have the money to go on holiday as well." She held up the datapad she was pretending to read. "Found a buyer for all those excess minerals we seem to keep picking up. You'd be amazed what the going rate for eezo is these days."

"Any hints on the price?"

"The entire crew could retire tomorrow and live the rest of their lives off what we've already made."

"Okay so we really are rolling in cash."

"Well not exactly. There's ship repair to consider, which given the Normandy's specs is going to eat a few million away easily. Plus refuelling constantly, cost of more probes, weapons, armour, salaries." She shrugged. "It all adds up."

"That's why I resisted promotion. I like it in the pilot seat. Stars ahead, comfy leather chair, no worrying about excessive costs."

"TIM was kind enough to handle all of this for us before, but since we're effectively independent contractors at the moment I have to take up the slack."

"Let me know if we're gonna go bankrupt."

She grinned. "Just remind me never to start up my own PMC. I don't think I could handle the stress."

He smiled back. "You're the only person I know who can face down a Reaper on foot and still consider paperwork the more stressful thing."

"Well it was only a baby Reaper."

He struggled to his feet and headed for the kitchen. She tried not to make it obvious she was watching as he fished out the coffee and found a clean kettle. He had broken almost every single bone in his body less than a month before, and she wasn't entirely convinced his recovery was really finished, no matter what he said.

"So what is the mission, O Captain my Captain?"

"One last bit of Cerberus business to clear up. Miranda found it on her last search through the datastream. Some sort of project that went rogue."

"That is a bit of a recurring theme around here."

"Well I figured we could use it as some pretty good blackmail material to keep TIM off our backs. Plus it'll put us in good favour if we decide we want back into the Alliance."

He came hobbling back with the coffee. "And do we want back into the Alliance?"

"We want back into anyone that's going to let us fight the Reapers while maintaining some sense of decency and ethical conduct." She went back to the datapad. "Also someone who'll pick up the slack for us monetarily."

"Hey if it helps I won't order the real coffee next time."

"Don't you dare Joker." She took a sip from the mug he had placed next to her. "There will be no galaxy saving without caffeine."

/|\

On a scale of Eden Prime being destroyed by a Reaper to evil Collector Base with a Reaper fetus, Aite was one of the more beautiful planets they had visited. Which definitely contributed to Shepard's massive sense of paranoia about the place. She sat next to Joker as he brought them in through the atmosphere, heading for the coordinates Miranda had found for them. As they followed the curve of the planet Miranda came into the cockpit and leaned over EDI's terminal to check out of the window.

"Pretty," she said dryly as she sat down in the chair behind Shepard.

"What do you want to blow up first?" Joker asked, half-turning to Shepard.

"Thought I'd start with everything." Shepard brought up the data Miranda had found. "This place already stinks."

"It's a secret Cerberus facility. How could it not?"

"Care to weigh in Miranda?"

"The information I found suggested that there was some sort of Artificial Intelligence research was being carried out here."

Joker snorted. "That's always a good sign."

EDI sprang to life next to him. "May I remind you Jeff that my existence is owed to a Cerberus research facility."

"Yeah, and now you're part of our pirate crew. Definitely a success story."

"Pirate is an incorrect term to refer to Commander Shepard and the current alignment of the Normandy crew. The word-"

Shepard cut her off. "Later EDI." She looked back to her monitor. "Distress signal last reported from this facility Joker. You have a landing zone?"

He checked the scan and shook his head. "Nothing big enough to get to Normandy down. You'll have to drop in the Hammerhead."

"Oh goody," Miranda drawled.

"I'm much better with that thing Miranda." Shepard stood and nodded to her. "Let's get ready for drop."

"Who do you want to bring?" Miranda asked as they walked back through the CIC.

Shepard ran through the possible list. There was barely any room in the Hammerhead, compared to the shuttle or the mako, but then she had a feeling they would need the gun. "Tell Garrus to get ready, we'll need his eye on the gun."

"Room for one more then."

"Might as well be Tali."

They stepped into the elevator, Miranda bringing up her omni-tool to issue the muster. "Sooner or later Grunt is going to get bored."

"I've been thinking about that actually." Shepard tried to avoid letting her sadness show. "I think it might be time for Grunt to go back to Tuchanka. He deserves to learn about his heritage and find his place in their society."

"Are you sure Shepard?"

She nodded, trying to avoid Miranda's eyes. "He was never given a chance to do anything other than this. He was basically born on this ship."

"I understand. But we are losing a lot of our crew now."

"We were never meant to stay together. I thought you and Jack would have murdered each other long before now."

It was now Miranda's turn to look pensieve. "She's changed hasn't she?"

"I think so." Shepard glanced over. "Have you spoken to her yet?"

"I have."

"And?"

"And I don't think she's going to kill me."

"Well that's something at least. Did she speak to you about how she's doing?"

"A little. Hasn't she spoken to you?"

"Once or twice. But I don't think she would really share much with anyone."

Miranda nodded. "That does seem a little unlikely. What does Dr Chakwas say?"

"She'll be able to begin walking soon."

"Good. Will she be back on active duty?"

"Not for a while yet." Shepard toyed with the plates on the back of her gloves. "Honestly I think she's going to leave as well."

Miranda frowned deeply. "Why? I thought she had found a home here."

"Thane's death hit her hard. Did you read the report?"

"I haven't actually." Shepard looked at her, surprised. Miranda shrugged a little. "If I'm honest reliving it seemed somewhat morbid."

"According to her report Thane held the husks back while she got away. I think she's having difficulty coming to terms with the thought of someone else sacrificing themselves to save her."

"Can you really blame her?"

Shepard shook her head. Reading her report had brought back a lot of memories of Akuze. "No I don't blame her."

The elevator doors opened and they stepped out into the hanger bay, heading over to where the Hammerhead was dangling in its support struts. Shepard spared a moment to glare at it, then went to check on the repairs. Most of the hull was now patched up at least, which at least meant they could give the shielding a rest, but there was still a lot to do if they wanted to ever get back to full operational capacity, and most of it would have to be done at a real dry dock.

"Maybe I should just take Joker up on his suggestion," she said as Tali emerged from the elevator.

"What suggestion would that be?" Miranda asked.

"Piracy. They'd have proper facilities to keep their ships repaired. Plus I'd actually get to keep some of the booty."

"You keep more than enough of it as it is."

"Fair point."

The elevator opened again and Garrus joined them, wearing the new armour he had found at the Shadow Broker's base.

_Liara's base now._ Shepard reminded herself. _Another trip might be in order soon._

"Alright people. We don't know what we're walking into over there, so be alert for anything. We all remember what happened the last time we went up against an artificial intelligence."

"ETA five minutes Commander."

"Everyone into the Hammerhead."

"You want me to drive?" Garrus asked as they piled in.

"Very funny. Get on the gun, I'll show you how it's done."

/|\

"Ow."

"Stop complaining Tali. It wasn't that hard a knock."

"Just a suggestion Commander, maybe next time you should engage the thrusters a little before we've already hit the ground."

"Stow it Vakarian."

As they approached the landing zone for the facility the comm crackled to life with a man's voice. "Thank God you came. My name is Doctor Gavin Archer. The situation is urgent. We're facing a catastrophic VI breakout." He sounded genuinely distressed, as much as she could tell over a radio link. She wondered why he wasn't using a more up to date method of communication. "I'll explain the details later, but you must retract that transmission dish. The controls aren't far from your position, you have to hurry."

They piled out of the Hammerhead and raced inside to find a regular sterile-looking Cerberus facility. It was identical to every other pre-fab she'd ever seen, aside from the lights not working and the smell of blood and burned bodies everywhere.

"Something bad happened here."

"Quiet down Garrus." To the left she could see a stairwell, smoke rising from it. "Miranda up front. Tali support. Move out."

They fell into silence as Miranda and Tali led the way down the stairs. There were two bodies halfway down, one with a dozen bullet wounds to the torso, the other with a hole the size of a dinner plate burned right through him. The weapon, whatever it was, had left a burn on the wall behind him as well, and the smoke was rising from it.

"Over here on the monitor." It was the doctor's voice, coming from one of the banks of computers below them. Shepard marched past a fire still burning on the floor and leaned down to see a balding man with a five o clock shadow. He looked dishevelled and exhausted, but his voice was clear and confident.

"Ah, there you are. I've locked myself in a computer room on the far side of the base. There are geth on the loose. A rogue VI program has seized control." He briefly looked away from the screen. "I've lost a lot of friends today. I'd hate to see you join them. Please watch yourself."

The communication cut out and she looked over to see Tali and Garrus working at the door.

"There's no way out of here," Tali reported. "This door… it's like nothing I've seen before."

"What do you mean?"

She stepped back and kicked the door. "It's locked, but not in any way I've seen before."

"That's not comforting." Shepard looked around, trying to spot an alternate route. She spotted a body on the floor beneath one of the windows, riddled with bullets. The window behind had been almost shattered by the gunfire. She drew her pistol and walked round the desk, shielding her face and blasting through the glass. "Come on people."

They jumped through into the small adjoining room, where they found an open door that led them into a corridor beyond.

"Found a personal log," Garrus said softly. She walked over and activated it.

She identified the voice as the same man they had just been talking to. "Archer's log: status report. Please inform the Illusive Man that we've made great strides in our research. His doubts about the lack of progress were unwarranted. A demonstration is forthcoming."

"Because that sentence can't ever be followed by something bad," Garrus drawled.

Shepard didn't even bother responding, moving to the door and checking down the corridor. The entire facility seemed to be deserted, which set her teeth on edge. Something had to have caused the massive destruction here, so why had it disappeared immediately afterwards? The only logical solution was an ambush.

Through the next door was an obvious control room, a massive window taking up an entire wall and showing a gigantic satellite dish beyond. There were more bodies scattered around here, one by the door as though he had tried to run, another slumped at a bank of computers. Shepard paused in the doorway and scanned the room but saw no obvious traps or signs of sabotage.

"Check it," she said, and her team moved past her and into the room, sweeping it completely with omni-tools. Only when Tali had finally declared it clear did Shepard enter after them.

"Got another log here Shepard," Garrus said. "Same ID tag."

"Play it." She wanted to know more about the sole survivor of this whole operation. In her experience sole survivors were either extraordinarily lucky, or they engineered their own escape at the cost of everyone else.

"Memo to all project personnel. I understand there are some concerns about handling live geth. I agree it's a risk, but the potential rewards are far greater. Someday your sons and daughters will thank you."

"They had live geth here?" Unsurprisingly it was Tali who seemed most concerned with that revelation. "What were they thinking?"

"Standard Cerberus Operating Procedure," Shepard said. "They weren't." She moved to the central controller and activated the satellite dish controls, retracting it. She looked up to make sure it was working when the entire window suddenly glowed green before her, blank staring eyes that fixed on her as a binary scream hit her like a concussion grenade to the face. She doubled over and pressed a hand to her forehead.

As quickly as it had come the sensation was gone and she was able to hear the concerned voices of her teammates, overlaid with Dr Archer's panicked chattering.

"Dammit, the VI's overridden the controls. We have to stop him, he's trying to upload his program off planet. Destroy the antenna inside the dish, there's a tram on the lower level, get to it as fast as you can."

She nodded, stepping back from the console and turning to find her squad staring at her.

"What's wrong?"

"You just keeled over Shepard. What happened?"

"The eyes? That scream?" She saw confusion on their faces and felt cold worry seep into her. "You didn't see them?"

Tali shook her head. "You tried to retract the dish and a computer error flashed up, but there was nothing unusual about it."

"Right." Shepard reflexively clenched her fist. "That's not encouraging."

"What did you see Commander?"

"When I tried to retract the dish there was a scream, like a geth or a Reaper, and I saw green eyes on the screen, looking at me."

Miranda and Garrus exchanged a look. "What?" She asked.

"Archer said that the AI was affecting computer programs in the area," Miranda said slowly. "And there's a lot of it in your head…"

Shepard took a deep stabilising breath. "So you're telling me I'm at risk of being overridden?"

"For lack of a better word." Miranda shrugged helplessly. "This wasn't ever a scenario we anticipated you'd need a defence for."

"Alright then." An odd sense of calm had replaced the worry. "That makes things simple. We have to destroy that dish and shut down the AI before it gets off world and before I lose control. We've handled worse." She moved across to the other door, drawing her SMG. "Form up. Let's go."

**AN:-** This really will not be such a big update. I've already got the first three chapters and the epilogue written, so there's literally only one chapter left. I just thought I'd get the whole thing out of the way in one go to cleanse the palette for Arrival.

'There will be no saving the galaxy without caffeine.' This isn't taken from anything. But after the amount of times I've mentioned or referenced coffee and the crew drinking it or complaining about military issue coffee while Joker has the 'real stuff' I thought I needed to throw in a reference to how much it gets mentioned.

'Pretty. What do we blow up first?' That is taken from somewhere. (all together now) X-Wing Wraith Squadron books! It's the motto of Wraith Squadron. Since it migt as well also be Commander Wedge Antilles Shepard's motto I decided to throw in (yet another) shout out.

The biggest change to my writing of this whole mission is probably Shepard's reaction to the VI. In the game it's basically made clear that everyone can see both it and its effects (like the green hue surrounding the geth when it controls them) In the story, only Shepard can see and hear it.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:-** Such imaginative titles, how do I do it?

**Chapter Two: Man's Reach Exceeding His Grasp**

Through the doors and down the stairs beyond she felt eyes on her, flickering green at the edges of her vision. She shoved it away, ignoring it as she led them down and out into another concourse area. Over the railing she could see trees just outside the compound, the view marred by more dead bodies hanging off the railings or slumped over the walkway.

Their path went round to the left, following the only available route down into a lounge area. There were screens everywhere and she saw eyes in every one, following their movements through the facility. Her eyes burned in her head and she fought the urge to rub them. Ahead was another short corridor that she sent Tali and Garrus down while she and Miranda provided cover. A camera overlooked their actions and she resisted the urge to blast it off the wall.

An automated voice warned them of geth activity on the station. It should have provided an encouragingly simple explanation for everything that had happened. The geth had gone rogue surely. They had taken control, just like on the _Alarei._ Anyone would accept that explanation and accept that her only option was to nuke the place from orbit.

The corridor opened onto the mess hall, and the second she stepped through the door her shield sparked and flared with bullet impacts as a dozen shots landed home. She raced for cover behind a small wall, her back slamming against it as Miranda crashed next to her. They both stuck their SMGs over the top and fired blind, forcing the geth back under cover. Garrus' rifle cracked once and there was a bionic scream as one geth went down.

For Shepard there was another scream as well, similar to the one she had heard before. She could distinguish more from it now though. It wasn't pain, like she had thought before, there was anger in there. Another geth went down and she heard it again, clearer still. Not anger, she realised. Rage. Pure unfiltered rage was being pumped through the entire station.

She drew her pistol in her other hand and glanced quickly out from behind cover. To her eyes the geth seemed to be encircled by a green halo, patterns and geometric shapes covering their bodies. Even in that quick glance she had another impression, that the geth weren't moving of their own accord. Although the difference would have been unnoticeable to the regular eye these geth were being used like puppets, their limbs controlled by something beyond their control.

A single shot through the eyeplate put down the closest one to her and the scream echoed in her head again. When she ducked back behind cover this time she could see every screen in the place lit up with light, green eyes glaring down at her. It felt like she was being pulled in two directions at once, trying to keep her focus on the fight while her mind longed to find the VI and confront it directly.

As quickly as it had started the battle ended, every geth downed and the eyes disappearing from the walls. She could still feel it though. And looking around spied two cameras tracking their progress. She shook her head to try and clear it and led her squad up the stairs to where a small bunkroom lay open. Inside there was another datalog from Dr Archer.

"Memo to all project personnel. Congratulations on all your hard work! Tomorrow we make the next leap forward. It'll be a great day for Cerberus and an even greater day for humanity."

"Is this guy's doctorate in ironic statements?" Garrus said as they moved back out into the mess hall, heading for the tram station.

Some of the lights in the tram station had been smashed, casting the whole room in uncomfortable gloom. There were yet more bodies scattered around, and Shepard wondered fleetingly how many personnel had been assigned to this station. She wondered if any of them besides Archer had managed to make it out alive, and just how Archer had seemed to be the only one to survive when so many others had been slaughtered.

There were too many questions being raised, and standing in the dark listening to off key music wasn't going to help any. She waved them all onto the tram and Tali got to work on the controls. For a moment Shepard thought that they would be held in place by the AI but then with a whine the engine started and they began to move down the track.

None of the squad spoke as the tram slid out of the station but she could feel their apprehension. She couldn't blame them for it, she was nervous about her own behaviour as it was. It would have been bad enough if it was only the threat of the AI, but the way it seemed to be affecting her was reminding her of their time on the derelict Reaper.

An alarm sounded over the base before they were halfway to the second station and Archer's voice came over the radio again.

"Damn it all, he's aligning the dish to a new upload target. He'll have a clear line of sight to our satellite. This is gonna be tight."

The tram locked into the second station and they piled out into another scene of chaos. Wires had been ripped clean from the walls and bodies lay tangled amongst them, blood staining the walls all around. The unease Shepard felt with the situation began to resolve itself as she realised what was worrying her. The geth were never normally so brutal. They were efficient, they were methodical, but they would never tear apart a building or a body unless they were looking for something concealed inside it.

This station was open to the air, and they moved quickly through to a metal gantry in the shadow of an enormous satellite dish. Shepard spared a moment to scan for hostiles and found none, but as she rounded a corner a flock of birds that had been perched on the railings ahead of them took flight, disappearing into the darkness.

She snapped her pistol up just as the first geth appeared from a small side room. A single shot ripped through the wiring in its neck and it dropped, only to be replaced by a second. Miranda and Tali opened up and blasted it in half. The green after-image of the AI's control faded as the geth died, seeming almost to sink into the metal surrounding the bodies. Shepard shook her head and the effect vanished.

Inside the room the geth had come from they found yet another log, though this one was a broadcast message out. Only when Shepard checked the logs it didn't look as though there had been any outgoing messages since the crisis had begun.

"This is Project Overlord with an emergency message to Cerberus Command. We've experienced a catastrophic security failure and are requesting assistance. We… What do you mean our outgoing comms are jammed. How can it do that?" The message cut off in a burst of static that sounded unsettlingly close to the binary squeals of the AI.

Outside Tali had found the controls to extend a bridge to reach the next set of gantries but the second their feet touched Shepard was nearly deafened by an electronic wail and a hail of bullets came from the opposite walkway. They dropped to the deck as a squad of geth assaulted their position, Shepard switching to her sniper rifle and joining Garrus as they quickly brought down two rocket troopers. Machine gun fire served for the rest and they sprinted for the entrance to the dish.

Tali knelt to unseal the door, and after a second it flickered green, but when they went to enter the lock turned to red again. She swore and started the hack again, only for the lock to open before she could get halfway through. She tried to activate the opening sequence but the door stayed resolutely shut.

Shepard looked down at her. "Tali?"

"This bosh'tet is keeping the- ah." She jammed her omni-tool into the holographic display and the door slid open with a screech. Bullets filled the air again and Garrus yanked Tali back as her shield flared. Shepard spun and added her fire to his, taking down the half dozen geth who had gathered beneath the dish. She could see sloping stairs inside that would lead them up to the outside of the dish but there were more geth coming from above, including a geth prime that glowed vividly green when it spotted her.

"Catch up to me," she said, handing her rifle off to Miranda and drawing her pistol instead. She sprinted forwards, heading for the stairs, but switched direction at the last minute and jumped for the column in the middle of the room. She hit it with both feet and pushed off hard, sending herself up to the second level of the staircase. The geth prime tried to adjust for her sudden change of movement but she was on it before it could, slamming the palm of her hand into its rifle and sending it clattering away.

Not giving it a second's pause she jammed her pistol up under the chestplate and emptied the clip, the heavy bullets punching holes clean through and producing a fountain of sparks as the prime staggered back but didn't fall, swinging a lightning fast blow for her head. She dodged it with ease and kicked out the prime's knee joint, sending it down. She finished it off with a heavy pistol whip that cracked the outer plating on its head and sent it cartwheeling down to the floor where its headplate came entirely off.

The shootout was lessening down below and she was confident that her team could handle it. Drawing her SMG she carried on up the stairs, kicking a geth trooper down to the lower level as she went. The upper access panel was open and she was able to step right out onto the face of the dish.

Archer's voice came from a speaker on the central antenna. "You need to destroy the support struts now. They have their own capacitors, try blowing them up."

She sighed and reloaded her pistol, looking over to where the control panel for the first support strut was. Her nose twitched a little as the Cerberus implant took over and gave her a lesson in support strut maintenance and care. She didn't know why anyone had thought that would be essential to her work as an assassin-cum-commando but it would be helpful now. She walked over and opened the panel to reveal the inexplicably destructible capacitor and stepped back to launch a single round into it.

Explosions rippled along the length of the support strut and the entire dish groaned as the pressure increased in the antenna. She whirled round to see two more support struts, their maintenance hatches at the base. She also saw more geth piling over the side of the dish, a sight which spurred her into a sprint for the next capacitor.

She made it just as the first bullets began to pepper her position, and as she opened the capacitor one of the geth's bullets hit it and did her work for her. She dived for cover and reloaded her pistol, drawing her SMG to return fire and keep them at bay. She didn't know how many geth there could have been on the base but it seemed as though the AI had an inexhaustible supply of them to send her way.

More fire came her way and she risked a quick glance to see another dozen geth join the fray. Cursing she lobbed an incendiary charge at them but it only took down a couple. She was going to get overrun the minute the AI realised just how badly outnumbered she was.

At that moment the rest of her team arrived, appearing on the stairs right behind the geth and cutting them down in seconds. Shepard made a break for the third capacitor, aware that the dish was almost in alignment. From thirty feet away she put a pistol bullet into the control panel and the blast shield slid down. The rest of her clip went into it and the capacitor blew, sending a deep rumble through the dish.

Each of the support struts was cracking along its entire length, pieces collapsing down onto the dish around them. Shepard swung round and raced back to her team, not stopping as the antenna began to implode into the dish, cracks spider-webbing out across the edges, right under their feet as they sprinted for the edge of the dish.

The metal beneath her feet bucked as the dish began to fall apart, jagged shards of metal cracking loose and spinning through the air towards them. The few geth remaining were shutting down, the green life fading as they collapsed and were immediately swallowed by the destruction. They made it to the edge just as the entire thing gave way and crashed down into the gulley below with a deep roar.

Shepard landed hard on a gantry, turning back to grab Tali and steady her as she landed. Garrus came down hard on his leg, yelling out and flopping to the ground, his rifle spinning away from him. Miranda landed half on and half off, her legs scrambling wildly to find purchase. Shepard grabbed her by the arm and hauled her to safety with a single pull.

For a long moment they lay spread-eagled on the gantry, panting and listening to the dish fall apart below them. Dust and grime was kicked up and over them, coating their armour and skin. Garrus was groaning slightly as he tried to straighten his leg so Shepard turned her head towards him.

"You okay Garrus?"

"Might need a minute Shepard."

"Take all the time you need," she said, coughing and struggling to sit. "I think we just bought ourselves a little."

At that moment a man appeared out of the smoke to their right. She recognised him as Archer.

"Over here!" He shouted, waving unnecessarily.

She sighed and forced herself to her feet, giving a hand to Tali as well. Miranda was steadying herself against the rails already.

"What the hell is going on around here?" She growled at the doctor, and he took a step back at the anger in her voice.

"Man's reach exceeding his grasp," he said. _Oh great, another philosophical madman. _"Come on, I'll explain."

/|\

"You have my thanks Commander Shepard." They were standing in the original foyer, looking down on the devastation. Below, Tali and Miranda were trying to make some sense of the chaos, cataloguing bodies and moving them as respectfully as they could. Archer was at her side, and with every word out of his mouth she disliked him more. "You brought us some time, though probably not much. This isn't over yet."

She kept her tone carefully level. "You owe us that explanation."

"This is Project Overlord, an attempt to gain influence over the geth by interfacing a human mind with a VI." She gritted her teeth. It was worse than she could have imagined. "The results have been… less than satisfactory."

She folded her arms and let some of her contempt creep into her response. "I'd hate to see what you call a disaster."

"You can't dismiss the entire project. We did succeed, at least partially. My brother David, volunteered to serve as a test subject, but his mind couldn't handle the VI Connection." She suddenly thought of the eyes she had seen. Could that have been David, trying to communicate? "He's like a virus now, infecting our networks and seizing control of any technology he finds. It's why you had to destroy the dish. Imagine if his program got off world."

"How does he take control of electronics?" _And why do I keep seeing him?_ She suspected the one question might answer the other.

"This is a hybrid intelligence the likes of which I've never seen. I don't know where the man ends and the machine begins."

_So you don't know. Convenient. _She put the question on hold and got back to the problem at hand. "What's the worst case scenario?"

"A technological apocalypse. Every machine, every weapon, every computer, could be turned against us. If he hit the extranet, who knows where it would end."

_Maybe he'll discover some of Joker's sites and get distracted. _"You should have considered that before you started the experiment."

"We couldn't be expected to account for every outcome, certainly not the abomination David has become." Now she definitely didn't like the man. Not accounting for every possibility was one thing, but given the history of crapshoots in AI development it had been madness to work directly with so many live geth units. "David, the VI, has fortified itself in the main laboratory at Atlas station. It's in lockdown now. To enter, you need to manually override security features from our facilities in the Prometheus and Vulcan stations."

She resisted another sigh. They named their stations after mythological figures known for the cost of their hubris and still managed to be surprised when things went wrong for them. _Where's Aidos Station, or Moses? _"How does the lockdown work?"

"It's a failsafe procedure in the event of an emergency, normally all three project leads have to agree to cancel the lockdown. I'm the only one left now. I can give my authorisation but you'll need to manually reset the other two yourself."

She looked down at the madness in the station and tried to control her feelings. Another three stations full of people had been wiped out, just like this one. "And what happens if I have to kill your brother?" She asked, curious as to what his answer would be.

"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that." He sounded sincere enough, but there was an ugliness in his eyes she couldn't fully read. He had also avoided telling her exactly how his brother had become what he had become.

"I'm heading out now," she said, nodding to Garrus. He was lying in state on one of the couches, a medipack held to his knee. He nodded back and rose, limping down the stairs to collect the others.

Archer looked a little relieved to see them gone. "The other stations are all within driving distance. Best of luck Commander."

**AN:-** There's not a great deal to discuss here that isn't already in the chapter. I added a lot of additional snarky banter and humour, because that is what I do, and I cut down some of the gunfights, because like all Mass Effect DLC this is padded like the bra of an a-cup Hooters girl.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN:-** Nice huge chapter now...

**Chapter Three: Hammer of the Gods**

Outside Shepard was reminded of just how beautiful the world they were on really was. Between the unfortunate names of the stations and the tendency to put Stygian Horrors on paradise worlds she was beginning to wonder if someone at Cerberus had an irony fetish.

She slewed the Hammerhead through a wide curve to take them around the mountainous formations in their way. She had the locations of both facilities marked on the internal map, and it seemed as though Vulcan station was the closest. The Hammerhead was responding well to her commands, and Garrus seemed happy enough with the gun as he spun it experimentally and focused on some of the local herbivores.

"Worthy targets?" She asked.

He grinned. "I have a feeling they would be no match for a guided missile."

They came to a river that the Hammerhead traversed easily and Shepard turned them to follow it down towards the cliff, where it poured majestically over the edge, the sunlight refracting and making a dozen rainbows over its surface. The Hammerhead's computer pinged on and a mechanical voice emerged.

"Geographic conditions indicate an aesthetically pleasing view nearby. Organic life forms may wish to take note."

Shepard turned to Garrus. "Your doing?"

He nodded sheepishly. "I think the Hammerhead has some sort of civilian model software. I downloaded it while I was trying to patch in some of my own code and now I can't stop it from doing that."

"You downloaded strange software from the extranet and put it into our combat vehicle?"

"I knew it wasn't a virus, and I needed some of the codelines."

Shepard shook her head and went back to the controls. "When we get back, fix it."

"Yes ma'am."

They turned away from the waterfall and headed for a rock bridge that would lead them straight to Vulcan Station. The Hammerhead fought her for control on the uneven ground but she brought them across without much more than an engine going over the edge. Beyond the rock bridge was a tunnel, dimly lit and red-tinged.

Shepard angled them into the tunnel, checking the screen just in time to see two LOKI mechs unfurling ahead of them. The nose of the Hammerhead slammed into them and they exploded across the front of the vehicle. Up ahead the tunnel opened up again to reveal volcanic mountains, dust in the air and jagged boulders that threatened to push them off course.

Tali scanned the terrain ahead. "Looks like there's activity on the surface. There are several rivers of molten rock we'll need to get by."

"That should be fun."

"Stop worrying Miranda," Shepard said as she found her way down a slope of rock. "It's not like we have much of a choice."

Archer's voice came over the Hammerhead comm. system. "Commander this is Archer. I advise extreme caution. Vulcan station is our geothermal plant. They stopped reporting in shortly after the experim-" His voice was cut off by static.

"Comforting," Garrus said.

Tali was still scanning the area. "VI infestation is present within plant machinery." She leaned back and shot Shepard a look. "The computer advises caution."

"Well I _was_ planning to be reckless." They were approaching the first river and she gunned the engine, pushing the Hammerhead to its fastest speed. Garrus sighed as they sped towards the lava.

"Nice to see you staying cautious," he said as he checked his harness.

Tali triggered the thrusters and the Hammerhead shot into the air, throwing them straight over the river and onto the opposite bank. The path finder was pointing them straight up the cliff to their right. She spied a geothermal plant and steered the Hammerhead inside. There were several vents on the floor that were pouring steam.

"How much force does one of those vents put out?" She asked her squad.

Miranda was still half out of her seat after the river jump. "Several thousand foot pounds," she said, pulling her harness tighter.

Shepard navigated the Hammerhead right in front of one of the vents, then shoved the thrusters forwards. They were enveloped in steam and the hull screamed as the Hammerhead was thrust into the air. Force pummelled the bottom of the ship and Shepard fought to keep them level. They quickly crested the top of the cliff and Tali jammed the boosters on to give them extra height. At the same time Shepard goosed the engines and the Hammerhead leapt off the top of the steam and came crashing down heavily in the dirt.

The nose of the vehicle dug into the volcanic sand and for a few terrifying moments they hung over the edge, but then the hover pads found something to push against and they came right way up onto a narrow path that wound round the mountain.

After several seconds of panting Garrus found his voice again. "That was not fun."

"It might be about to get worse," she said, checking the map ahead of them.

"What could possibly be worse?" Tali moaned.

/|\

"You asked."

"I regret asking."

"Whether you asked or not this would still be here."

"I still regret it."

They sat on one side of a lava river.

A very big lava river.

There was absolutely no way they would be able to get over it in one jump, and there seemed to be no other ways around it that Shepard could see on the map. The only way across seemed to be by hopping onto some of the larger chunks of rock that were floating down the stream.

"And you're sure those will hold us?" She said, turning back to look at Miranda.

"Not for very long. But the Hammerhead shields should be able to resist the heat, and the debris should be solid enough for us to land on it briefly."

"So we're gonna have to bunny-hop all the way across." Shepard sighed and leaned back in her seat. "This should be fun."

"I would recommend planning out our course before you just start jumping," Garrus said.

"Yes, thank you Garrus. Hadn't considered that." She sighed and activated the manual camera mounted on the outside of the hull. She tracked it across the lava flow, double checking the slabs of rock that might be suitable. There did seem to be a lot of them coming down the river, and with a bit of luck there was no reason they couldn't jump them all.

She followed a particularly likely looking clump as they tipped over the edge of the waterfall to their right. As she had hoped they split up and formed an almost perfect bridge right across the river. They would still have to jump to make it though.

"Right. Tali you're on thrusters. Miranda and Garrus you'd better strap in."

"Understood Shepard."

"On my mark." She edged them closer as the rocks drifted slowly towards them. "Three, two, one. Mark!"

They surged forwards. Shepard wasn't entirely sure what happened in the next few seconds but it was chaos and crashing noise and the sensation of being thrown around inside a can. She barely kept them on course, turning the control stick as little as she could only to ensure that they were pointing to the next piece of rock in the course. Behind them she could feel the back end of the Hammerhead dipping with each jump as the boulder they were on began to sink beneath the lava.

All of a sudden they were on the opposite bank and slowing to a halt. Tali still had her finger on the thrust button, but they had run out of a power, and not a moment too soon. Shepard swivelled the camera back and saw that the entire river was now nothing but molten slag. All of the stepping stones they had used had sunk away.

She sagged in the seat, letting out a long shuddering breath. "Let's not do that again."

Miranda pulled herself together. "Vulcan Station should be just ahead Commander."

"Excellent." Shepard pulled herself upright again. "Let's just get this over with."

/|\

Vulcan Station was a large square metal blot on the landscape, nothing particularly special. There were dozens of pipelines coming out of the station, most of them attached to venting stations similar to the ones of they had seen earlier. She pulled the hammerhead into a large docking bay and a kinetic barrier shimmered into place behind them.

"Let's get out of here. Hopefully when we bring down the station the barrier will follow."

They stepped out into boiling heat. Shepard broke into a sweat even with her armour's cooling system. Even Miranda seemed to be feeling it a little. The door was only a short walk away, but inside it seemed to be even hotter. Something had clearly gone wrong with the base's cooling systems, they couldn't expect technicians and scientists to work in such sweltering conditions.

Two LOKI mechs were in the hallway to greet them, but Shepard's team put them down before they could even unfurl. She smiled at their seamless precision and gestured for Miranda to lead the way upstairs. There was a small control room at the top of the ramp, with a couple of open logs. Shepard triggered them, but they were just maintenance logs. Only the final journal entry, cut off hallway, mentioned the AI takeover.

"Tali?"

The quarian was bent over the main control panel. She glanced up. "This should be easy enough. I'll need to run a quick bypass but that shouldn't be a problem."

She got to work, Shepard nodding to Miranda and Garrus, who ventured further in to try and find anything that might help them. Garrus turned up a bag of heat sinks, but nothing else out of the ordinary. While Tali worked Shepard examined one of the bodies. It seemed as though the AI had simply turned on the bases defences, then left them to do the work. She was grateful for that, at least there was no sensation of being watched this far out.

"Got it." Tali crowed. "Shutting the steam vents down now." Outside the window a warning light blinked on, then silenced itself as the power was diverted away from the central base.

Tali was humming in triumph as her fingers danced across the keyboard, but a second later she jumped back. "I've been locked out!"

Shepard glanced at the screen and saw the green eyes she had been expecting, heard the mechanical chomping as the VI sought to communicate. She could almost discern words, but it stopped speaking before she could fully make them out.

"Let's go people, our mission's done and we don't want to make this thing any madder."

They ran for the door and the AI screamed again. Something pushed Shepard forwards and she tackled Tali to the ground, sticking out a hand to grab Miranda as she ran past. The three of them clattered to the deck and Garrus skidded to a halt to help them up. A moment later the door blew, sending a hunk of metal skimming along just above Garrus' head. Fire raged beyond the door, threatening to burst through at any moment.

Shepard forced herself to her feet. "Move!" She hauled Tali up as well while Garrus grabbed Miranda. "Move, move, move!"

They made for the back exit, sprinting out as the console overloaded, sparks flying across the room. The fire got more intense and she heard the AI scream again, but a second later they were outside the station, a simple ladder taking them to the upper floors.

A bullet hit her shields and she snapped up a look to see LOKI mechs across from them. She drew her pistol and emptied it into the steam pipe at their feet, the explosive wave knocking the mechs off their feet. She followed the pipes around, the rest of the squad finally coming back to their senses and drawing their guns.

Their route led back down again, heading towards the bay again. Garrus took the lead now, sweeping his assault rifle left and right as Miranda backed him up. Tali was still looking shaken though.

"You good?" Shepard asked as they stacked up in one of the hallways.

Tali jerked her head up, then nodded. "I'm good."

Shepard knew enough that she would have to speak to the quarian later, but she would be able to get out, and that was enough for the moment. Garrus declared the all clear and they finally came back to the door to the Hammerhead. Tali ran a quick bypass and the door screeched open. They sprinted through before the AI could close it again and piled into the Hammerhead.

Shepard didn't even wait until they were all strapped in before she gunned the engines and pulled them away, following the route back along the cliff edge.

The radio crackled and she jabbed her thumb on the respond button.

"Are you receiving this? Commander Shepard this is Dr Archer please respond."

_Who else could it be?_ She wondered as she pulled her harness on and settled herself in the chair. "I hear you Dr. We've hit the override at Vulcan station and are moving on."

/|\

Prometheus Station was much easier to reach, especially now they were on top of the cliffs instead of underneath. They shot along, over the fields, listening to the Hammerhead reporting pleasant views all around. Unfortunately they wouldn't be able to follow the cliffs all the way to the station, but they were able to get right to the mouth of the tunnel they needed to follow

"Uh, we might have a problem Commander," Miranda said as they sped down the tunnel.

"We have several problems Miranda. What's the most recent?"

"I'm getting a signal from a shield of some sort."

"A recognisable signature?" That would be just her luck, some sort of newly developed forcefield she would have to overcome somehow.

"It seems to be a geth signature."

"Oh. Well that makes it easy enough. Control towers to destroy each of the shield emplacements?"

Miranda nodded. "Prometheus Station appears to be a crashed geth ship. I guess the scientists reactivated the shield towers for some reason."

"Maybe they were researching it." Shepard throttled back on the power as they approached the open plain that Prometheus Station sat on.

"Yes, because that always goes so well."

"Why Miranda, you're finally getting it."

They came out of the tunnel into a field that sat right on the edge of a cliff. There was an enormous blue energy bubble that she recognised sitting near to the cliff edge, and all around it were posted large towers with electrical cables running underneath the bubble.

Shepard turned the Hammerhead to face the first turret. "Garrus? Would you do the honours?"

He grinned and brought up the targeting system for the main cannon, sighting it on the tower and opening fire. The slug landed and the entire top half of the turret came away, sparks and fire gouting from the half. "Three to go," Shepard said, turning to the next.

The Hammerhead bucked as a missile blasted against the shields and she fought for control as they spun dangerously close to the cliff.

"Automatic defences coming online," Tali said. "I don't think they liked the missile."

"No problem." Shepard's teeth were gritted hard enough to hurt. "We'll just do this on the run."

In the end it barely took a minute to bring down all the towers. Although the amount of missiles three turrets could put out was alarming they packed much less punch than she was used to, and the targeting systems seemed barely capable of even skimming the shields. She wondered whether that was a deliberate choice by the scientists or a fault of the AI when it had taken control. Either way it was encouraging. They parked on the gantry outside Prometheus Station and piled out, Tali getting to work on the door immediately.

They froze in the entrance, staring at a geth prime suspended in a green energy bubble in front of them. It didn't seem to be aware of them, or even activated, but that didn't make it any less creepy. Its arms were held out like it was being crucified, and its face was tilted to the ceiling.

"That is among the more disturbing things I have seen since we arrived," Garrus said.

"But you can all see that right?" Shepard asked, suddenly nervous. "The green energy field and everything?"

"Yes Shepard we can see the green energy field and the enemy concealed within it."

"Good," she said, drawing her SMG. "At least I'm not going completely crazy."

They found one of the scientist's logs just inside the door. The man sounded quite young. "We just got word Atlas Station wants a dozen more geth for the experiment. I hope this means a breakthrough is close."

"A dozen more geth?" Tali said, walking over to the bubble. "How many did these people have permission to use?"

"As many as they asked for I'd imagine," Miranda said. "No expense spared, on anything."

"Let's move up people," Shepard said. Noting as Tali knelt down and did something to the base of the bubble.

The station was utterly deserted. There was plenty of damage and blood, but no signs of bodies. That unnerved her in a way she hadn't expected. With the dim blue lighting in the station she couldn't help but remember the derelict Reaper all over again.

There was another log at the top of the stairs, from a different scientist. "Hanging around all these dormant machines is creepy. It's like death staring at us from the shadows. I'd rather work at Vulcan station."

The log cut off and Shepard reeled as something pounded at the inside of her head. Ceaseless noise resolved into a scream, a word audible just beyond the chaos, but gone as quickly as it hit her. She came to to find Garrus supporting her under the shoulders. "Commander?"

"I guess he doesn't like the thought of someone working at Vulcan station."

"He?"

She hadn't even noticed her mistake. "It. The AI, VI, whatever."

Miranda came forward, looking worried. "Shepard when did you start thinking of it as a he?"

"I don't know." _But it's been like that for a while._ She suddenly realised. "Maybe you'd better keep an eye on me." _And the derelict Reaper Electric Boogaloo continues._

They went through a door at the top of the stairs and immediately the door across from them slid closed and locked.

"I guess it wants us to go right," Tali said, indicating the only path still open.

They followed it down, coming across another journal. As Shepard picked it up she could see a flicker of green eyes behind the screen and shook her head to clear it. When she looked back the screen was normal.

"Lanigan just ran a simulation. If these geth ever wake up, there's a 98% chance we'll be dead within two minutes. I'm starting to hate Lanigan."

Ahead of them two doors slid open and then immediately slammed shut and a scream echoed down the corridors. This time when it hit it was different though, and as the voice faded she could make out a single word.

_Stop._

"Shepard?" Garrus was at her side again.

"I can understand it," she said, her voice scratching her throat. "It's not just babble. He's trying to communicate."

Tali shook her helmet. "Wonderful. What's it saying?"

"So far all I can hear is 'stop.'"

"Well if it thinks we're going to stop now it's sadly mistaken." Miranda racked a heat sink home, just to punctuate the point.

Shepard didn't comment on that. She wasn't entirely sure that had been the point of the message. But until she heard more she also wasn't going to let the VI keep control of all the technology it had access to.

They moved down the hallway, going straight, and came to a section that had almost flooded. Water was pouring into the tunnel from somewhere, forming a miniature river that tugged at their ankles. Further down the lights were shorting from water damage, flickering on and off.

"Oh good," Garrus said. "I was just wondering how this could possibly get any creepier."

"Come on now Garrus," Shepard said as she led the way down into the creepy water soaked abandoned tunnel. "It's not too bad."

"You and I have different definitions of bad."

"It's not Resident Evil Garrus. Anything that attacks us will do it with a nice big scream to let us know it's here. And worst comes to worst I'll find you a chest-high wall you can hide behind and wait for your shield to come back, okay?"

"I feel like you're mocking me."

"That's because I am."

"Very well then. I shall instead adopt the Shepard tactic. Run in blindly with a pistol and good luck and see what happens."

"At the very least it would have the element of surprise."

There was another log at the end of the tunnel. "Halloween was yesterday. Lanigan ran around wearing spare geth parts. Spooked the shit out of everyone. Now I definitely hate him." The young voice might have been angry, but Shepard could hear an undercurrent of real fear beneath the surface. At least one person had known what risks they were taking.

Another scream hit her and she was forced to her knees. This time she could make out another word, long and drawn out at the beginning of the sentence, before her consciousness drifted almost entirely. _Please._

"Please stop," she said when she was able to. "It said please stop."

"It's polite enough at least," Miranda said. "But I'm feeling less and less inclined to acquiesce to these requests."

Shepard rubbed her head where a vicious pain was spiking through her skull. "I concur. Let's get on with it."

Everything was underwater now. They found another two journal logs in quick succession, and they had much less inviting things to say.

"Everything's off wire. Archer declared a lockdown but our stations already infected. What does the VI want? It keeps screaming at us. Nobody understands."

Somehow someone on the research team had figured out a way to talk to it. Or maybe the AI had been able to communicate more effectively earlier for some reason. Could an AI's mind deteriorate? She didn't know. The second log was even worse.

"The VI's closing some passages and leaving others open." Panic was clear in the man's voice now. "It's like it's herding us. At least the geth are still dormant."

They moved further in, following the spread of the water. It was almost to their knees in most places now. All around them doors continued to open and close, seemingly at random, but never with enough time for them to make it through to the rooms beyond. She suspected the AI was deliberately screwing with them now. She didn't appreciate it.

They opened a door to find a short corridor, the most water-logged one yet, and a scream hit her again, piercing right to the centre of her head and dropping her to her knees. Her vision greyed and she began to black out but just before her head hit the deck she heard the whole message at last.

_Please make it stop._

She woke to concerned faces. She struggled to find something to say that might reassure them. From overhead a pleasant voice came.

"To all Cerberus personnel. In an effort to reduce workplace stress. Music has been approved for stationwide broadcast."

Off key music began to play over the speakers. It was so discordant she almost couldn't recognise the tune, but then her subconscious reminded her of endless hours stuck in Citadel lifts trying to get anywhere. She grinned and managed to point to Garrus.

"And that is how it could be creepier," she said.

He chuckled and helped her to stand, keeping a hand on her elbow until she was stable.

"The AI doesn't want us to stop," she said. "It said 'please make it stop.'"

"What does that mean?"

"Archer told me the project was to hook a human intelligence up to the geth and see if it could influence them. The test subject was his own brother. Maybe a little more of the human survived than they thought."

"Just once could we go back to fighting mercenaries?" Tali asked as they made their way through the narrow tunnel, water up to their waists. "They were so much less horrifying."

"I promise, next planet we go to will be nothing but mercenaries and criminals."

At the other end of the corridor was a large room, a control panel visible at the other end. Unfortunately the room was underwater, and Shepard couldn't even see the bottom. She didn't fancy trying to swim through it. There were moveable panels suggesting that the room had once had a programmable layout. Most of those panels now seemed to have been deactivated or in some cases entirely ripped from their stations. However there was still one in functioning order, and that was all she needed.

Garrus stood at her shoulder as she activated the panels to give them a bridge. "You do know that when we activate the override all hell is gonna break loose?"

"When has it ever not broken loose?" She asked. "Now would you kindly get over there before the AI gets bored again."

Once they were across Tali got to work again and it wasn't long before she had the override in place. Naturally the second she was done the station sprang to life around them, the lights flickering to full power and a much more familiar mechanical scream as half a dozen geth dropped from the ceiling.

"Perfect," Shepard said, unfolding her SMG again.

/|\

The irony did not escape her as they fought their way back through the main room. Once upon a time she had wished for there to be no more geth and to go back to fighting mercenaries. Now here she was wishing for plain old geth, instead of these VI puppets. Every time they killed one she felt the death scream reverberate in her head. Every time they appeared the ghostly afterimages of the VI's control tugged at her synapses.

The VI continued to try and stymie them in other ways. It closed doors ahead of them, opened others that brought them straight into ambushes. But her team was methodical, and the VI-controlled geth were much less precise than normal geth. It wasn't difficult to move steadily from room to room, putting down anything in their path.

Soon enough they were back at the room they had come in by, looking down at the prime in his bubble. Shepard sighed as that bubble began to dissipate. "I just knew that was going to happen," she said, fumbling for her sniper rifle.

"You might want to duck," Tali said, activating her omni-tool.

That command from Tali could never been ignored. They threw themselves to the deck and she triggered a command. The explosives she had placed earlier detonated with a shockwave that destroyed several of the other troopers in the room. A geth prime headplate thumped onto the desk in front of Shepard, the light dimming to nothingness as she watched.

"Nice job Tali," she said. "Now let's get out of here."

**AN:-** Seriously, everything in Cerberus is named something guaranteed to generate ironic consequences and their very worst nightmares are placed in spots of the greatest beauty. That cannot be coincidence.

I don't like the Hammerhead. And one of the things I don't like is the whole 'pleasing views, look over there' on a battle tank. So I imagined it was probably some sort of civilian software that got used for tours of hard-to-reach locations. Garrus needed to do something to software when he was calibrating, and he forgot to take out the civilian code.

I cut a lot of the padding out of this one. The run around inside the Vulcan base is now after instead of before the activation, I took out some of the vent jumps and some of the lava river jumps and I took out most of the Vulcan base combat. Similarly I cut most of the fight outside Prometheus base because it's more like a puzzle boss, which don't translate well to novelisations, and while the combat is mentioned I don't elaborate too much.

Electric Boogaloo is a reference to Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. Nowadays Electric Boogaloo is often used to refer to any subtitle for a sequel which doesn't have much relation to the main title. There's a whole page about it on TVTropes! Plus Electric Boogaloo is just fun to say.

I refuse to believe I'm the only one who thought of BioShock when they reached that point. Creepy voice over the speakers, off-key music, water dripping everywhere. So I put in a little 'would you kindly' as a nod to that.

Now would you kindly leave a review?


	4. Chapter 4

**AN:-** There's a nice weird bit in the middle of this one. As should be expected whenever I write anything related to computers or mind control.

**Chapter Four: Chained**

Atlas Station was concealed behind a waterfall, buried deep in the mountainside. They had driven right over it on their way to Prometheus Station. This time the doors were open, revealing a short tunnel with a sharp drop at the end of it. Shepard brought the Hammerhead down smoothly, Tali using short bursts of the thrusters to keep them level until they were at the bottom.

The door to the station was right before them, looking about as appealing as the other stations. Shepard sighed and unbuckled herself, slotting her sniper rifle into place. "Let's move people. The faster we can get this over with the faster we can get out of here."

They piled out of the Hammerhead and moved into the station, Garrus and Miranda once more leading the way. There were bodies right in front of them as they entered, bearing signs of geth weapons discharges. Shepard gritted her teeth and moved past them without further examination. There wasn't time to worry about the dead.

Archer's voice came over her personal comm. channel. "Looks like you're in Commander. Good. I'm getting some troubling readings here though. The VI is trying to upload its program directly from your location. Get to the sever room and shut down the core before it can-" He was cut off by static.

"Door ahead," Garrus said. "We'll need a bypass."

"Tali, you're up."

She moved to position, but as soon as she knelt to get to work the door cycled green and opened in front of her. Shepard frowned. "That's not comforting."

"It knows we're here," Miranda said. "We'll probably face hard resistance."

But there was no sign of activity as they moved into a small dark room. Across from her was a damaged computer bank that flickered to life as she approached. The lights turned on as well, revealing a body to her left, still sat in a chair at a desk, but with its throat slit ear to ear. A computer log started playing automatically as well.

"Archer's log 155.2. For years my brother's condition has been a handicap. That changed today. His autistic mind is the breakthrough I've been looking for. He can communicate with the geth. Such a tremendous grasp of mathematics. It seems serendipity is alive and well in the 22nd century."

There only seemed to be one exit, but the doorlock was glowing red. She turned to Tali, but before she could even ask the door went green and opened. Resisting the urge to comment she simply moved through, the others forming up behind her. They were in a corridor with large windows on either side, and laboratories beyond. The lights overhead flickered, and hung in their cradles.

One door was open on her right, leading into the lab, while another at the end of the hall was still showing a red lock. She went for the open door but it slid closed before she could step through. She reached out to trigger the opening mechanism but it disappeared and the door at the end of the hall opened instead. She almost thought she saw a flicker of green disappear into the panel.

Miranda sounded nervous. "Alright even I'm going to say it. This is creepy."

Through the open door was a scene of devastation. There was a fire raging on their right and several wires and panels hung down from the ceiling and walls around them. All the lights were off and the glow of the fire did little to illuminate their surroundings. She felt her adjusted eyes compensating and looked to the left to see stairs and the green light of a camera halfway down. As she turned that way the lights sprang on, revealing bodies pinned up against the walls by gunfire, or splayed on the floor, ripped open by mechanical hands. There was a geth with these bodies though, shut down with no sign of injury.

At the bottom of the stairs were three doors which all closed as they reached the bottom step. Door locks appeared, cycling through all colour combinations, almost too fast for the eye to follow. Shepard walked closer to them and the door on the left abruptly opened, the colour-coded locks disappearing. She gritted her teeth and turned back to stare at the camera. The AI was doing this deliberately to unnerve them, she was sure of that.

The room was dimly lit, and there seemed to be work benches everywhere. As they entered a log started playing, filtered through the station's grainy speakers. "Archer's log 157.8. Unless he sees results, the Illusive Man is shutting us down next week. I have no choice. I'm going to tap David directly into the geth neural network and see if he can influence them. The danger should be negligible. David might even enjoy it."

"What an excellent idea that was," Garrus said. "Are you sure we're helping the right man Shepard?"

"We need to stop the AI," she said. "We can deal with Archer after the threat is contained."

There was an elevator on the far side of the room. She summoned it and the lights came on as it cycled through the floors, all the way up from one to seven, which was apparently their floor. Almost out of habit she ducked behind a desk as it rose, and was rewarded when the doors opened with that same mechanical howl and three geth were revealed. The crossfire cut them down in seconds and they piled in. She assumed that the AI would be held on the lowest level and activated it, turning to watch the doors slam shut.

The elevator began to descend, then abruptly shot back up, colliding with the roof of the shaft with enough force to jar them. She heard a rumble and turned to see the AI's face appearing on the screen on the back wall.

"Let me guess," Tali said as they began to drop again. "You see him?"

Shepard clung on to the rail as the elevator began to move faster. "I don't think he's happy," she said as they jerked to a halt somewhere around level three and began to rise again.

"Can't we talk to him?" Miranda asked.

Shepard's stomach lurched as the elevator dropped again, the emergency brakes kicking in and slowing them, enough so that when they hit the bottom floor they were kept in one piece. The impact threw them to the floor though, and Garrus yelled in pain, one hand going to his knee. They lay there, dazed, as the elevator doors opened and another log turned on, the voice floating through to them.

"Archer's log 168.4. I'd be lying if I said no harm could come to David. His autistic mind is as alien to me as an actual alien. Anything could happen when we plug him in. but I have to try, don't I?"

Shepard forced herself up and looked into the room. It was filled with geth platforms, all plugged in to central controllers, just like it had been on the geth ship. There was another camera on the wall, fixed on them as they began to stumble from the elevator.

"Take out the platforms," she said. "All at once." She drew her pistol and sighted on the one closest to the exit, hearing the whir of unfolding guns from the others as they chose targets. She would need to be quick to drop a second one as well.

The gunshots seemed overloud in her ears, overlaid by the mechanical screams both of the dying geth and the AI as its puppets were taken away. She pressed a hand to her head until it went away and took a breath to steady herself, returning her pistol to her side and drawing her SMG instead. All the platforms lay sparking on the floor and Garrus was by the next door, checking their route. He signalled the all clear and they moved into position.

At the end of the hall was a green door lock. But as they approached it began to sparkle with the sign of AI possession. Shepard watched as it moved position, shunting slight to the side, then off the door and onto the wall beside her. She followed its progress as it made its way down the hall and back where they had come.

"What do you see?" Miranda said in her ear.

"It's moving the door lock." She pointed to what had before been an entirely sealed door. "There." The holographic display settled in place and the others were evidently able to see it again.

They moved through, Shepard feeling the pressure in her head increase. The eyes of the VI were on her all the time now, and she wondered if it knew just how much she had been affected by it. Inside the room was a console, and beyond that banks of servers.

"This must be the central room," Tali said, moving to the console. "I think this should be able to shut down the entire process." She looked up for confirmation of what to do next and Shepard nodded, coming to stand next to her.

"Get ready," she told the others. "I wouldn't be surprised if this button summoned a Reaper."

Tali activated the console and nothing happened. The lights didn't dim, no VI face appeared to scream at her. But the hum from the servers continued as well.

"Tali?" Shepard asked.

She heard no answer, although she did see Tali's helmet turn towards her. She was suddenly aware of a million tiny crystals on her suit, crawling up from her hands to her arms. She looked down and saw more of them encircling her legs, making their way up her body until she was almost entirely covered in light. She should have been terrified, but something told her to be calm. She felt it in her mind, like tiny fingers resting on her consciousness.

The light coalesced suddenly, and she saw his face, looming before her, above the banks of servers. The lights rushed her, suddenly becoming orange as it covered her head, rushed down her throat and burrowed into her eyes. Her vision cycled through every spectrum it had, night vision that blinded her, infrared which turned her companions into burning stars and greyscale that robbed her depth perception.

She tried to fall, but couldn't, her legs locked and braced by some unseen force, her fingers extending and stretching until they burned. Her omni-tool activated and deactivated, flickering in and out of existence as the last of the orange burned its way into her.

Her companions were gone

The walls glowed green

Square root of 906.01 is 30.1

Light showed the way

Follow the light

Square root of 912.04 is 30.2

Men walk to the left

Gavin in his labcoat me in my favourite shirt

The walls are orange now

Square root of 918.09 is 30.3

I see myself, but not myself

The walls are orange now

The puppets are green light

They hurt

Square root of 924.16 is 30.4

They come apart, not like the orange lights

The walls are orange now

The puppets are green, the bodies are grey

The bodies are orange now

I watch over myself

STOP

Square root of 930.25 is 30.5

The orange lights that used to be red

The walls are orange now

I watch over myself

Gavin is here, talking to me, but not me

My voice is speaking. Square root of 906.01 is 30.1. Square root of Gavin is speaking now. Time on this project is running out. There are no options left. How to get the geth's attention

I speak the Green language. It speaks back.

I tell Gavin what I heard. The robot says hello.

He moves his face. Eureka David, you're a miracle worker.

The walls are orange now

Gavin is not here

Square root of 936.36 is 30.6

Gavin is here again. He says to me. David I want you to order the geth to take a step forwards

I make the green noises again.

A man speaks over me. How does he do it?

Gavin tells him. I already know what he will say. David is a mathematical savant. His autistic mind can interpret the geth language at its most basic form and mimic their phonetics. With his photographic memory, cross referencing the meaning is a snap. He's literally a human computer.

The man makes a new face. I don't know the face. He says And you think he can interface with the geth's neural network

Gavin nods his head. I do

Is that even safe Dr?

I see no harm in finding out

Gavin is not here. The man is not here. I am here, but I am not here.

The walls are orange now.

Square root of 942.49 is 30.7

I am here. Gavin is here.

I am talking. I watch myself talk. Square root of 906.01 is 30.1. square root of 912.04 is 30.2

Gavin speaks over me. David can you repeat my notes from Thursday experiment?

I want to count. Square root of 918.09 is 30.3

David! Please pay attention!

STOP

Loud. It's getting loud in here

Gavin speaks again. I'm sorry, you didn't deserve that. Would you mind repeating my notes from Thursdays experiment?

I tell him the blue words. Log 137.3. The experiment yielded no discernible patterns of geth obedience. End dictation now David. Hell, the Illusive Man will have my head for this.

His mouth moves. His voice is different. Thank you. And how are you feeling today/

I want to count. I tell him that. Square root of 924.16 is 30.4. Earplugs would be good.

Green light comes

The walls are orange

Gavin is not here

Green light becomes grey

Grey light becomes orange

The walls are orange

Square root of 948.64 is 30.8

MAKE IT STOP

The green light tries to stop me

The walls are orange now

I am watching myself

The green lights are coming

Square root of 954.81 is 30.9

I make the green lights go away. They become grey.

The walls are orange now.

I am here

Gavin is here

I am watching myself

The walls are green now

I am here

I am here

Square root of 906.01 is 30.1. Square root of 912.04 is 30.2

We're ready. Open a connection to the geth network.

QUIET!

Gavin is loud. He is too loud. I am here.

David no! Tell the geth to stand down.

QUIET PLEASE MAKE IT STOP

I am not here

I am watching red light.

Red light makes the green light go away.

Gavin is moving quickly. Pull the plug, tell Vulcan station to cut all power

QUIET PLEASE MAKE IT STOP

The green light is fading.

The walls are grey.

The red light is grey.

I am grey.

I am here.

I am here.

Square root of 1600 is 40

I am here.

The voice was outside of her now.

Square root of 906.01 equals 30.1

She blinked and looked up.

He was thin. So terribly thin. Suspended in the air, arms outstretched. Beyond thin, beyond pale. His skin was grey. His stomach caved inwards. Tubes ran into his arms, into his back, into his neck. Around his neck was a heavy metal brace that forced his head upright. Clamps affixed to his eyes kept them open, tear tracks streamed down his cheeks, but there was no more moisture in his eyes.

He hung there. A dead thing still breathing. And her heart broke. She stepped forwards and his eyes moved, finding her for a second.

"Quiet… please make it stop."

There was no strength left in him to even twitch. No strength to fight against his bonds. She felt wetness on her own cheek and brushed it away, walking closer. His eyes tried to shift again, but focused on the ceiling before he saw her. Tubes had been forced into his mouth, and she saw blood on his nose, congealed on the pipe there. Her pistol was in her hand, and she couldn't remember drawing it, or why she had thought to use it.

"Wait!" Archer came sprinting in from a side door as she stood there. "Commander. I'm begging you, don't do anything rash."

Cold fury was spreading over her. She felt as though she couldn't move, couldn't turn her head away from the abomination she saw. "Rash?" Her voice sounded oddly calm in her ears. She would have expected it to shake, or for there to be no words, only a yell of anger. "Like forcing your own brother into an experiment?" She seemed to have detached from the conversation. She was watching it all unfold from above, hearing her own voice, almost conversational.

"I know how this must look, but I never intended any harm to come to him. You must believe me." He was grovelling, practically on his knees. "It's not like I planned this. It was an accident. Seeing David communicate with the geth, it all seemed harmless."

She contemplated how easy it would be to put a bullet between his eyes. "And before you knew it you were running your own private hell?"

"I had no choice. The demands were incredible. The Illusive Man doesn't broker failure." He was finding his bluster again. Obviously he thought she wasn't going to do anything to him. "Any war we fight with the geth will be bloody. I was asked to find a way to avoid that."

She was finally able to move, even if it was only her head. She fixed him with a glare that he quailed under. "And how many have already died for this project?"

"More souls than will ever forgive me. But I won't apologise for radical ideas. If my work spares a million mothers mourning the loss of a million sons my conscience will rest easy."

"Look at him." She turned back to the pitiful body before her, feeling Archer's eyes do the same. "Your brother will never be the same."

"The damage may not be permanent. He might recover some semblance of his mind."

"Cerberus will never leave him alone. Your brother will always be a lab rat."

"But a well-cared for lab rat." She was rapidly coming back to herself. The cold anger that had frozen her limbs was becoming hot, molten. Ready to boil over. "At least he'd still be alive."

"So you'll sacrifice your brother's happiness for your own ambition?" Now her voice cracked, just a little, and some of the anger she was feeling began to make itself known.

"Square root of 906.01 equals…" He trailed off, sagging in his bonds.

"30.1," Archer finished for him. "What I've done to David is unethical. If he dies it's unforgiveable. Let me take care of him, please."

David finally said something new. "Quiet. Please make it stop."

She was shaking from head to foot. It was a miracle she hadn't already torn him limb from limb. "I've seen enough of your cruelty to know he'll never be free from it here. I'm taking David away." She used his name. It felt right.

Archer moved for her, grabbing at her arm and yelling. "No! Leave him! He's too valuable!"

The gun barked in her hands, two shots which went into the floor at their feet. She hadn't even realised her finger was on the trigger. A cool part of her mind told her it was an almost fatal error on the part of a soldier. But she knew it hadn't been an error. She threw him off with ease and jammed the still hot barrel under his chin.

He yelped and whimpered. Her finger was still on the trigger.

No one would blame her. The Illusive Man would find it irksome, which made it even easier for her finger to tighten a hair further. But even he wouldn't blame her. What was one more body to be left here in this failed project? Wasn't that Archer's own view. More sacrificed than would ever forgive him. Couldn't she bring some sort of vengeance for those people?

But that was his view. One more body among the rubble. And any view that this man held was not her view. With every ounce of her self-control she released her finger from the trigger and lowered the pistol, letting him sag as the adrenaline pumped through him. He had soiled himself. He was shaking from head to foot. He was a broken man.

_But still not enough._

She snapped back round, the pistol still in her hand, and struck him across the cheek with a blow hard enough to crack his cheek and tear a gash in his skin. Blood began to flow freely as he dropped to the floor, crying out and pressing a hand to his ruined face. She stood over him and observed the pathetic creature now at her feet.

"You even think about coming after your brother and this bullet will be waiting for you. Then we'll see who's valuable."

"Where will you take him?" His words were slurred by his injury.

"Grissom Academy. They can help special cases like David, minus the torture." She stepped away, felt herself returning to reality. When she brought her hand up to trigger her comm unit it was steady. "Joker, contact Grissom Academy and let them know we've got somebody who needs their help."

He was smart enough not to wisecrack. "Aye aye Commander."

David was still talking, so faint she could barely hear him. She leaned in close, hearing the door behind her open and her team rush in. "Square root of 912.04 is 30.2… It all seemed harmless."

**AN:-** So this DLC is fun isn't it?

I took some inspiration for the bits under David's control from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. Hopefully it's still sort of clear what's going on, although obviously it's not meant to be _clear _clear, if you catch my incredibly difficult to get drift.

Just the epilogue to go now.


	5. Epilogue

**AN:- **Time to wrap up this cheerful story.

**Epilogue**

Shocks tended to come all together, she had found through long and bitter experience. It was never enough to have a single moment, and then time to recover. They came in groups that left you reeling from their impacts.

Grissom Academy had gladly accepted David. And since the route took them by Tuchanka they had dropped off Grunt, just as they promised. He had thanked her gruffly, and childishly, but it was from the heart. There had been little time to speak with Wrex, but he had assured her that Grunt would receive only the best of attention and assignments to prove his worth as true krogan. She couldn't have hoped for more.

Then at Grissom Academy the first shock had come, hitting her like a body blow from a heavyweight champion. Jack had requested to see her, privately, in her office. And when she came in with leg braces and crutches Shepard knew something fundamental was about to change.

"I got a request," the biotic had said once she was sat on one of the couches. "Before we leave."

"Anything Jack."

"I want to stay here."

Stunned didn't even begin to describe it. It felt like the ship had shifted beneath her feet as she looked at the uncertain young woman before her.

"What?"

"I want to stay. Here. At Grissom Academy. I… they help kids. Like me. But before I was me. When I was just scared and stolen and fucked up. You said this place takes in the fuck ups and makes them normal. Makes them human." So much confidence Jack had lost after her injury, returning as she found her way through the conversation. "I can help them with that. And they can help me with that. And I spoke to Chakwas and she said that my legs just need recuperation time and a decent facility. They got that here."

There wasn't a thing she could think of to say. All of the air seemed to have gone out of the room. She had known. She had to have known, that Jack would leave. Somewhere, subconsciously she had already accepted that. But it was too soon.

"I," she fought for any words. "I can't stop you Jack. You're not Alliance, you're not Cerberus…" _You're crew. You're family._ The words stuck on her tongue. She needed to say them though, she needed Jack to know.

"Yeah, but you ain't Alliance right now either. And you sure as fuck ain't Cerberus." That with the faintest hint of a grin. "You're my captain."

That simple statement. She wondered if Jack even knew how much it meant. She thought maybe she was beginning to though. Else why would she have come at all?

Shepard wrestled her thoughts down again. "I'm sure Grissom Academy would be happy to have you Jack, and I can say with certainty you would make a fine addition to them."

"Yeah, I figure someone has to teach these kids what being a biotic actually means."

Her words were light, but her tone wasn't. Shepard saw beneath the mask and realised that Jack was finding this just as hard, if not harder. That told her what she had to do. She had to be the captain now. She had to be the Commander. She stood and extended a hand, helping Jack up.

"Jack it has been an honour to serve with you. And I know you will go on to do great things."

"Shit, I always knew that." Jack hesitated for a moment, then did something completely unexpected. She stepped in, wrapped her arms around Shepard and hugged her.

Shepard was frozen for only a moment, then she brought her arms up to encircle Jack. And for the briefest of moments they stood there and held each other. Then the moment broke and Jack stepped back, bright red and rubbing the back of her neck. "Anyway," she stuttered. "Thanks."

And she hobbled for the door.

Two days later and Shepard still couldn't get the exchange out of her head. She had a transfer request sitting on her desk from Jacob as well, filled out with the precision she expected of him. Her entire crew, cut down to Tali, Garrus and Miranda in less than a week. She couldn't deny Jacob's request on any reasonable grounds. And she had a feeling there was a political storm brewing when they went back to Citadel space that he would be better clear of anyway.

They were docked at Omega for the moment. Aria was letting them have the friends and family discount which cut the costs of docking from ludicrous to merely extortionate. She had a feeling Jacob would want to be off when they left. It was falling apart faster than she could have imagined.

_To be fair, you imagined it wouldn't last past the Relay._

She shut that side of herself up and continued sorting through her mail. There were still a few hundred messages to read, especially since more kept pouring in every day. She could probably have had Miranda do it, and trusted her to do it right for once, but then she might have missed something seemingly unimportant that brought a smile to Shepard's lips. A pleasure that was becoming increasingly important.

Her door chimed but before she could even call for the person to enter Miranda strode into her office, looking frantic as she paced in front of the fish tank. Her hair was in disarray and it looked as though she had been woken, and not bothered to present herself before she came up. That alone told her the seriousness of whatever news she had received.

"Tell me," she commanded, and Miranda stopped pacing, fixing her with a look of fear.

"Oriana. My father found her."

Shepard's veins turned to ice as Miranda gave her a brief description of the message she had received. One of her private informants, unrelated to Cerberus. Shepard didn't point out how it could have been a trap set by the Illusive Man, Miranda would have found some way to check.

She couldn't even believe the word was about to leave her mouth. "Go."

"What?"

"With the nightmare we're walking into back home and his resources we can't keep her safe. And you can't keep her safe from here. You need to go."

Miranda nodded. "I do. Shepard I have to keep her safe."

Shepard glanced briefly at the photo of Liara. "I understand. Believe me I understand. Anything I can do that won't trace back to you. Anything at all..."

Miranda let a smile break through, and it looked genuine. "I'll call Shepard." She still looked anxious. "But I don't like to leave you when things are so bad here. The crew's been cut down so much. I mean I know Garrus and Tali are good soldiers, and Jacob-"

"Jacob filed his transfer yesterday. He's getting out here as well."

There was pity in Miranda's eyes. Funny how a few months ago she wouldn't even have believed that was possible. "Shepard I can stay…"

"No you can't. And you won't. I can make it an order if you'd like. Go and keep your sister safe."

Miranda nodded and pulled herself to attention, giving Shepard a salute so perfect it would have made a Drill Instructor weep with joy. Shepard stood and walked over to return it, but found she couldn't quite manage it. Instead she grabbed Miranda and pulled her in close, trying not to let too much of her tension show. She felt hands wrap round her back and grinned.

"That's two awkward hugs in as many days," she said into that perfect black hair. "This is becoming a bad habit."

They broke apart and this time Shepard was able to return the salute. Miranda nodded to her and smiled. "Commander. Thank you. For everything." And then she turned on her heel and was gone.

Shepard fell into her chair, finding it more by touch than sight. It was all falling apart again. Tali had to returned to the Migrant Fleet soon, she knew that. And it wasn't fair to ask Garrus to be away from his home, on a strange ship filled with humans. Soon she would lose them all again.

"Commander." Joker sounded no different. But of course he didn't know. She cleared throat and accepted the call.

"What is it Joker?"

"Priority message from Admiral Hackett. I'm patching it through."

The Admiral's face materialised before her, slightly out of sync for a few seconds while the transmission stabilised. She recognised the lag of an encrypted channel. "Commander, thank you for your time. I'll keep this brief. We have a deep cover operative out in batarian space. Name, Doctor Amanda Kenson. Kenson recently reported that she found evidence of an imminent Reaper invasion."

"So why call me?" Surely evidence should have gone to the Council.

"Just this morning I received word that the batarians arrested her. They're holding her in a secret prison outpost on terrorism charges. I need you to infiltrate the prison and get her out of there. As a favour to me, I'm asking you to go in alone."

She nodded. A suicide mission sounded right up her street at the moment. "I'll make this a priority."

"The prison is hidden underground at a batarian outpost on Aratoht, I'll upload the coordinates now once she's secure confirm her discovery. We'll debrief you when you're back."

She nodded and saluted. "Got it."

"Hackett out."

The End

**AN:-** Sooooo that happened.

Yeah this ain't a cheery on at all is it?

I always knew this was how it was going to go down. Didn't quite realise how nasty it would work out.

Dunno why but I was in a hugging mood when I wrote this. Apparently that means Shepard is in a hugging mood.

I'll probably just dive right into Arrival in a few days and get it over and done with as soon as possible. From what I can remember it probably won't be that long, maybe three or four chapters.

Then I get to start the madness that is ME3.

I'm almost afraid. The finish line is maybe not in sight, but definitely lurking somewhere up ahead.


End file.
